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She gets up and walks toward me, rubbing the tears from her eyes in the process. She places a hand on my sore arm. “Sore?” she questions.
I try not to cringe at her touch as I feel myself starting to get weak. “Yes, honey. Very sore.”
I talk her through the process of helping me to get my other arm out of my top before pulling it over my head and sliding the shirt down my bad side. I hold in my screams so as to not freak her out, but I nearly pass out from the pain. Somehow, I force myself to keep it together.
Georgie needs me to be alert. I cannot die in here with her. I cannot leave her with that trauma.
Once my shirt is gone, I grip the safety handle beside the toilet and pull myself to my feet before letting out a shaky breath and moving back in front of the mirror. Finally taking a good look at the damage, it actually hits me that this is so much more than a normal wound. It’s a fucking bullet hole.
I got shot.
Turning around, I find the exit wound and let out a sigh of relief, realizing I won’t have to fish for the bullet, but that doesn’t do anything to take away from the magnitude of what’s happened here today.
I try to rip open the packaging for the bandages, but with one hand, it’s too hard, and Georgie tries to help but her little fingers just aren’t strong enough. Taking them back, I brace the packaging between my teeth and rip, groaning in pain when the packaging scrapes along my cut lip.
“Come on. Come on,” I mutter as I desperately try to break into it, aware of just how much blood I’m losing. I need to get this under control before I become a burden to Georgie. I’m supposed to be protecting her, but right now, I can’t even protect myself.
I finally get the packaging open and instantly press it into the wound, hissing with pain before reeling it in, not wanting to scare Georgie any more than she already is.
Banging sounds on the bathroom door and has me dropping the bandages to the blood-stained floor and racing to Georgie, throwing my body in front of her, fear ripping through me.
“Gigi,” I hear Mel’s voice from the other side. “Are you in here? It’s me. Open the fucking door.”
“Fuck,” I grunt, a fierce relief crashing through my veins. It’s just Mel. Rushing to the door, I hastily unlock it, the blood on my hands making it slippery but I push through it and pull the door open just enough for Mel to slip in and lock it behind her.
She whips around with a wide, frantic stare. “Are you o—Fuck,” she shrieks as she takes in the wound on my shoulder and lip. She instantly jumps into action, and I’ve never been so fucking grateful in my life.
“Georgie okay?” she asks, pressing the bandages hard into my shoulder and trying to control the bleeding before scrambling through the mess of supplies in the sink and starting to bandage me up.
“Fine,” I tell her. “Just scared.”
“Okay,” she nods before moving onto my lip.
I pull her hand away from me, meeting her terrified stare. “What’s going on out there?”
“Fucking everything,” she says.
“Is he still on a rampage?”
“Yeah,” she says as she lets out a shaky breath. “I’ve counted ten shots so far.” She brings her hands back up to attend to my lip, and I push her away again. “Stop it,” she demands, tears falling down her cheeks. “I need to fix this.”
“No, you don’t. It’s fine. We can fix it later. We need to get out there and help.”
“No. I need to get out there. You’re injured, and you’re just going to slow me down. You need to stay here and make sure Georgie is safe. Besides, if you don’t get pain relief soon, you’re gonna . . .”
She doesn’t finish her sentence, and I know exactly what is rushing through her mind. “Fine,” I tell her, knowing just how right she is, but I try not to think about it.
“Okay. I’m out of here,” she says, her hands shaking. “I just needed to make sure you were alright.”
I nod my head, terrified for my best friend, but she’s doing the right thing. The children on this ward need her now more than ever. “If you can, get any kids who don’t have anyone in here. I’ll do what I can.”
She darts out of the room and returns only seconds later before tossing some pain relief through the door. It’s not the strong stuff, but it should help.
With that, Mel disappears, and I send a silent plea that she’ll be okay.
Chapter 16
SEAN
The last fifteen hours have been horrific. I swear, every new day is another day where my world is challenged in some way. Today and last night just happen to be one of the worst challenges yet.
